Cheer Me Up, Come On Dance With Me
by inoticeyoureanerd
Summary: In which Sam kisses cheerleaders.


**AN**:Title from Natasha Bedingfield's Cheer Me Up. This was written way back in October, before Sam's return, so there are certain parts that may no longer be canon compliant.

* * *

><p>It all really started with Quinn. She was just so…beautiful, yes, but there was more to it than that. She had this like, gravitational pull. It wasn't that she was pretty, it was that she was so pretty it was sometimes legitimately terrifying. She may have looked like a delicate princess, but she had this, this ferocity (he never quite knew how to describe it and that was the closest he'd ever really gotten) to her. It made her seem just so much larger than life, so much more than an ordinary human being. Sam had tried to explain it to her once when they were dating, but Quinn had just gotten mad because she thought he was calling her fat.<p>

He actually secretly kind of liked when Quinn got obsessed over petty things like that, when she fussed about her hair or took too long shopping. It was reassurance that she was just a teenager, that she was real, and not some awe-inspiring supernatural being or something.

Sam was pretty sure this was what love was like. The way she would blush and smile when they sang together, the way he felt the urge to tell her every single nerdy thing about him because he trusted she wouldn't judge (much), the sparks that shot between them when their fingers brushed - just, all of it. He knew the promise ring was a big deal, but he'd never wanted anything this badly. It was Quinn he thought of when he jumped in to defend Kurt. She deserved someone who was good, someone who would protect her, someone who wasn't afraid to do the right thing.

And it worked. He'd shown her and everybody the kind of guy he was, and then there she was, standing at his locker, promise ring glittering on her finger. He couldn't resist doing a mini-victory dance when she walked away. Life was good.

* * *

><p>And then it all went to hell. Santana kept slinking up to him, somehow making even mundane sentences seem suggestive, not getting the hint even though he was sure his impressions would turn her off to him in a heartbeat. And Finn was walking around with that smug smile, staring unabashedly at Quinn when he knew Sam was looking. He trusted his girlfriend, he truly did. But he wasn't an idiot.<p>

Quinn may have been fierce and perfect and wonderful, but clearly she was also shallow and manipulative and he wasn't going to be made a fool out of any longer. Santana, despite having slept with the entire football team, was at least honest with him. She'd been the only one who flat out told him Quinn was cheating, even though he found out later that most of the glee club had had their suspicions. And Santana was every bit as hot as Quinn, and they were both popular cheerleaders, and really, he was so much better off. Who knew what else Quinn had lied about?

Then again, Santana didn't exactly seem morally opposed to cheating either. But he wasn't in love with her, and really, he'd be stupid to think she had any real feelings for him, so what was wrong with drunkenly making out with her between rants at Rachel's party?

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><p>For that matter, what was wrong with drunkenly making out with Brittany too? It was spin the bottle, so it's not like it counted. Rachel and the short dude that came with Kurt made out, and Sam was pretty sure that guy was gay. Besides, Brittany was a really good kisser, and her mouth sort of tasted like root beer.<p>

* * *

><p>It was only when they were in New York for Nationals that Sam made the connection. He and Mercedes had snuck out to grab some dinner and spend some time together in the city the night before the competition. It was hard keeping everything a secret, especially now that everyone was crammed into two hotel rooms and spending all their time together. It was for the best, though. New Directions' drama was exceptionally good at breaking up couples, and after Quinn, Sam didn't want to take any chances.<p>

Things were different with Mercedes. He really, really liked her. It wasn't like with Quinn, where he was convinced he was in love when all she did was try to push him away. No, this was something more…real. Mercedes didn't play all the games Quinn and Santana did. There was no gravitational pull, no intense, scary beauty forcing him to her. Just Mercedes, who could be just as vulnerable as she was sarcastic, just as insecure as she was proud. She was honest, and sweet, and he didn't think he was in love, but he could be soon.

After dinner, neither of them really wanted the night to be over, so Sam suggested ice cream. Despite his protests, Mercedes had insisted they split the bill for dinner, and he was determined to at least be able to buy her dessert. She said she didn't mind that he couldn't buy her stuff , but it was still a little bit of a sore subject. Mercedes was just so awesome, she deserved all that fairy tale romance stuff. Prince Charming never had to split the bill.

He was telling Mercedes about Finn's big plan to win back Rachel, including the song he and the guys had practiced and offered to serenade the two with, only to be turned down because Finn thought it was lame. "I mean, the entire date was straight out of a romantic comedy, but a serenade on the street was too cheesy? We're here for a show choir competition, all we do is sing about our feelings."

Mercedes laughed. "Didn't he sing to Quinn's parents to tell them she was pregnant? Honestly, you can't get tackier than that."

"I forgot about that! I wasn't even around back then and I'm getting secondhand embarrassment just thinking about it."

"I know! Poor Quinn, I mean, the situation was bad enough already, and then he goes and pulls that?" She shook her head.

"Speaking of Quinn, what's up with her haircut? I mean, I know I'm like the worst person at noticing when girls get like new shoes or a new haircut and stuff, but she definitely had longer hair when we got here."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. I mean, it looks fantastic, but it's just so not Quinn, you know, to just go and do something like that on a whim. The unholy trinity seems to be back together though, so I bet Santana and Brittany had something to do with it."

"Wait, the unholy trinity?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you weren't here back then. Last year, before the whole pregnancy thing, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany like, ruled the school. They were basically just like the hot popular cheerleaders in every bad teen movie. Santana was even worse than she is now, and Quinn was just awful. Brittany was pretty much the same, except she was a lot more willing to go along with whatever Santana and Coach Sylvester told her to do."

"…Oh." Sam fell quiet, lost in thought.

Mercedes seemed to realize something, then looked guilty. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking bad about Quinn. I know you really liked her. She's definitely not like that anymore. I told you how she lived with me for a while, right? We bonded a little and she really is a good person."

"No, I know. She just gets a little blinded by popularity sometimes. That's not what I was thinking about though."

"Oh. What were you thinking about then?"

"Just…okay, this is actually kind of silly. But I sometimes get lost in the popularity thing too, you know? And it's not so much now, but I remember when I first transferred here I imagined being quarterback, and dating cheerleaders, and just being at the top." He looked over at Mercedes, meeting her eyes and holding the contact. "This is so much better than any of that. Being in glee club, being with you. I never thought I'd say this, but the slushies are totally, totally worth it. But it's kind of funny, too because I'm really happy even if I'm not popular, but I realized I kind of got what I wanted. Remember spin the bottle? I kissed Brittany, and I've dated Quinn and Santana, so technically, I did get to make out with a bunch of hot cheerleaders."

For a second, he thought Mercedes might be mad, because like halfway through that he remembered that girls really really don't like it when you talk about other girls with them and he probably sounded like a major douchebag, but then she started giggling.

"What?" he asked, smiling a little because it was hard not when she had such a cute laugh.

"Have I ever told you I was a cheerleader last year too?"

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Only for like two weeks, but we did a big number at a pep rally that I got to be part of. Me and Kurt both, actually. So I guess you really have made out with all the hot cheerleaders." She grinned, leaning towards him a little.

He moved in the rest of the way and captured her lips, which tasted a little bit like caramel and sugar. He pulled back a little, and he was going to say something along the lines of that he was definitely making out with the hottest cheerleader ever now, but she pressed a finger to his lips.

"If you say you saved the hottest for last or something, we're through, because that is seriously cheesy." Sam frowned.

Mercedes giggled a little, and finally said, "You can go ahead and sing that song if you want, though. I have absolutely no problems with being serenaded in the street."

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><p>His happiness didn't last long. His dad found a job out of state, and he found out he had to move. On the one hand, he'd have a house to live in and you know, food and all that, but he also had to leave so much behind. Including Mercedes, who he missed like crazy. She had been upset that he was leaving, but she understood, and he'd thought she was just putting on a brave face when she didn't seem all that torn up about it, when he just felt empty and sad all the time without her. Apparently that wasn't the case.<p>

School was starting and it felt weird not having glee practice, not dealing with Sue Sylvester's insults in the hallway, not calling Mercedes every afternoon to tell her everything he'd wanted to say during school but couldn't. He got on Facebook for a while, clicking on random glee members' pages to see what was going on in their lives. Kurt was still with the short guy from the party, whose name he hadn't remembered until seeing it in Kurt's relationship info. Quinn had a new profile picture, and he honestly had no idea what that was about, unless she was maybe modeling her Halloween costume early? He clicked through some of her other pictures and had to stop when he got to the Ryan Seacrest tramp stamp. He almost wished he and Quinn had had a more friendly breakup so he could call her and ask what the hell was going on. Mercedes' profile hadn't changed much. Except for one little thing.

Mercedes Jones is in a relationship.

Sam stared at the words, not fully comprehending. He forced himself to calm down. He and Mercedes were broken up. She should move on. She should be happy. Sam may feel like it's awfully soon, but it's been an entire summer. In high school, that's practically forever.

Who, though? One of the glee guys? The only ones who aren't already dating someone else are Puck and Artie. Not Puck. Theres no way, especially after what Mercedes had told him about the last time he tried to go out with her. So Artie? From what Sam remembered, he had been pretty broken up over Brittany. Maybe they were helping each other get over their exes? _And_ _wow, that was kind of super egotistic, wasn't it? Oops._

Artie was a cool guy, though. He aimlessly clicked through a few more glee profiles, but wasn't really paying all that much attention anymore, until he found himself looking at Jacob Ben-Israel's wall.

GLEE CLUB'S SUMMER SCANDALS: IS MIKE CHANG AN ASIAN CRADLE ROBBER? IS MCKINLEY'S RESIDENT TEEN GAY DATING A MYTHICAL CREATURE? PLUS: WHICH GLEE DIVA'S GOT SOME NEW CHOCOLATE ARM CANDY?

The video had over a hundred comments, and over three hundred likes. The population of McKinley High hated Jacob, but they loved making fun of the glee club more, as evidenced by comments like "god i swear this club gets gayer every year" and "dude it's like homo explosions just asking to be slushied" and the one guy who just commented "faggots" twenty times in a row. Sam decided maybe he didn't miss McKinley as much as he thought.

He pressed play on the video anyway, knowing Jacob's comments would probably just make him mad, but still wanting to see how things were going for his friends. The segment about Rachel and Kurt reminded him of the video Mercedes had shown him of the time they all got high off Vitamin D. He actually hadn't known Tina was a junior, which made him feel kind of bad, but he'd never really talked to her all that much. She was just always kind of in the background. And then there was -

_So last June._

He felt vaguely sick as Mercedes mentioned something about "cocoa babies." He didn't watch the rest of the video. All of a sudden, Sam didn't miss McKinley at all. He recalled the conversation he'd had in New York with Mercedes. _You know what? The cheerleaders here are hotter anyway,_ he thought viciously.

* * *

><p>Sam kind of wanted to bash his head into the locker in front of him. To recap: first he transfers to this awful school where you get slushies thrown at you if you're in glee club and worse if they think you're gay, but then he meets this beautiful girl who just might make everything better. He goes all out and winds up getting punched in the face but finally he wins her over, and then she cheats on him with her ex, so he winds up dating this scary bitchy girl who calls him Trouty Mouth and when she breaks up with him to date the worst bully in the school, he finds a wonderful, sweet girlfriend who forgets about him the second he leaves. He says good riddance and just as he thinks he's finally over her, his dad gets his old job back in Lima, which pays better and "you'll get to be with your friends again!" his mom tells him excitedly.<p>

So now he's back at McKinley, and just down the hall Mercedes and her boyfriend whose name he doesn't really care about knowing are making out and so he thinks maybe if he hits his head hard enough, it'll distract him from the fact that everything sucks.

He's actually contemplating it when all of a sudden a hand smacks him on the back, hard enough to make the decision for him. It's not really all that surprising, because this is McKinley, but then again it kind of is because he'd gotten slushies and stuff, but he'd never been shoved into lockers or thrown in the dumpster like Kurt and Artie had.

"Dude!" The voice doesn't belong to one of the hockey players, though. It's Puck, who looks like a five year old on his birthday, grinning so wide it's a little scary.

"What the hell, man?" Sam says, rubbing his forehead where it had collided with his locker.

"Sorry! I'm just really glad to see you dude. Guess I don't know my own strength," Puck says, smirking.

Sam punches him in the gut, not hard enough to really do anything, but enough to hurt.

Puck groans as Sam's fist makes contact, but he's still smiling like he's high, which would actually probably explain a lot. "I guess I deserved that. But seriously dude - welcome back. Glee club just hasn't been the same since you left."

Sam glances at the still-making out couple down the hall. "Seems like you all are doing just fine, actually."

Puck follows his gaze, and grimaces. "Yeah, I heard about that. Seriously not cool. But you know what would take your mind off it?"

"What?"

"Puckzilla's having a party Saturday. Booze and video games always do the trick. The whole glee club's coming. It's actually sort of a welcome back thing for you. It was Rachel's idea, but she wanted to do like a dinner and a performance and give herself all solos in honor of your return, so I took charge."

Sam can't exactly say no, and he's kind of flattered that they thought of doing this for him, even if Rachel was probably just looking for a chance to sing. So even though he's not thrilled that Mercedes will probably be there, and that she'll probably bring whatshisface, he bumps Puck's offered fist.

"Awesome, dude. This is gonna be the-"

* * *

><p>"Best. Party. EVER!" Sam shouts, tossing his empty cup into the air. He doesn't know why he was so reluctant to come. Puck's been handing him drinks and everything is all bright and fun and loud and it seriously is like the best party ever.<p>

Sam does a this spinny move that he's seen Mike do before except obviously not as awesome as he just did it, except for where he kind of stumbles at the end and lands on the couch.

"Hey!" Oh. There were people on the couch, which was kind of funny because they were actually super comfy and if they didn't talk or anything he'd totally think they were couch. One of them kind of starts shaking and he looks up and it's…Brad! No, wait. Brain! Yeah, that's it. It's Kurt's short boyfriend who is looking down at him and kind of laughing and that's when Sam realizes he's sort of in his lap, which is kind of weird because he's not gay and Brain has a boyfriend. He tries to scramble off, but winds up on the floor.

"Honestly," and that's Kurt's voice again and he pulls Sam up onto the couch again, except this time he's sitting instead of sprawled over their laps.

"Kurt. Kuuuurt. It was just like that song! Because we were just sitting here, and I was kissing you and you were kissing me and then - BAM!" Brain threw out his arms along with the last word. He reminds Sam of of one of those explodey bubbles that had sound effects when the hero was punching the bad guys. "It's raining men! Hallelujah!" Brain sings. "He just fell right out of the sky, Kurt! Just like rain!"

Kurt says, "Blaine," and oh, yeah that's his name, and then Sam interrupts because, "No, see, I'm not rain because I didn't fall out of the sky. I was spinning like Mike Chang does and then I was on the couch except you were there first so I was on you on the couch."

Blaine thinks about it for a second, then goes "Ohhh, I get it. Like when Kurt fell off the piano!"

"Blaine! I did not fall, that was deliberate."

Sam leans over Kurt, who's trying to cross his arms but keeps getting stuck in all the straps on his shirt, and grips Blaine's shoulder. He says, very seriously, "Was he spinning? Because spinning can lead to falling."

Blaine seems to be thinking about that, but Sam just realized that "spinning" is kind of cool word and so he's saying it because saying cool things makes you cool. "Spiiiiining, spiiiiining, spinny spinny spiiiiiiiiin. Like spin the bottle!"

"I love that game! Ow, Kurt, why'd you do that?" Sam giggles because Kurt just jabbed his elbow into Blaine's ribs and it's funny because it's not happening to him.

"Spin the bottle is soooo cool. You get to make out with people," Sam explains, because Kurt and Blaine obviously don't understand why spin the bottle is the best game ever. "I got to make out with Brittany, and then I got to make out with Santana but that wasn't part of the game. She was just mad at me."

Blaine gets like, super excited all of a sudden and says, "Kurt! You should make out with me when you're mad at me! It's perfect because we already make out when you're not mad at me and this way we never have to not make out!"

Kurt says something, but Sam doesn't hear because he just remembered something. Mercedes - he makes a face because even thinking her name makes him feel all yucky on the inside - but she told him, back when he thought she was the hottest cheerleader ever - she said, "Me and Kurt." That meant Kurt was a cheerleader, too. But then if popular guys made out with all the cheerleaders, then obviously Sam had screwed up. It explained everything. Everything was perfect because he was kissing all the cheerleaders, but he missed one, so Quinn cheated and his parents lost their jobs and Mercedes got with the stupid guy who didn't even have a name. But he had a second chance now! He's not going to screw this one up.

"KURT!" Sam says, loud enough to break up the semi-argument happening next to him ("It's perfect Kurt! We can start now because you're mad at me already!" "I am not mad, just slightly annoyed that Puckerman lied to you about the punch and now I have to deal with you acting like a moron the rest of the night." "No! You can't be annoyed with Puck because then you have to make out with him and you should make out with me instead!" "Please stop saying the words 'make out,' they're starting to sound really weird.").

Blaine and Kurt aren't talking anymore but this is really important so Sam says again, "Kurt."

"What, Sam?"

Sam grips his shoulders and looks him straight in the eye. He's trying to do that ESPN thing twins can do even though he and Kurt aren't twins. The only other person on the couch is Blaine, though, and Sam looks more like Kurt than he does him, so it makes perfect sense. Kurt doesn't respond, so Sam is pretty sure he got the message, so he leans in and presses his lips to Kurt's.

He doesn't even really get to enjoy it before Kurt pushes him away. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Kurt looks mostly pissed off, but his voice is like, super-high pitched and it kind of hurts Sam's ears, and it's only now that Sam notices he's got a half-full cup in his hand.

"Dammit!" Blaine says, pouting a little, and oh yeah, Blaine's Kurt's boyfriend and that probably was not cool.

He turns to look at Blaine and makes sure there's like, a foot between him and Kurt before he says, "Sorry! I didn't mean it like that! I don't want to steal your Quinn away, I just wanted to be popular."

Blaine looks at him a little funny, and says "I don't know what you're talking about, but that was really hot. Why'd you stop?"

Kurt whirls around to face Blaine, and opens his mouth and Sam thinks he should probably cover his ears now because he's probably going to yell again, but then nothing comes out. Instead, Kurt takes a deep breath and shakes his head and looks at Sam. "Kissing me won't make you popular, Sam. In fact, if anyone ever saw that you'd probably start getting locked in port-a-potties."

"No! See popular guys have to kiss all the cheerleaders, and I forgot to kiss you."

"You've kissed all the other cheerleaders?"

"Well, no. Only the ones in glee, but they're the only one's who count!"

"Why? Who told you kissing glee cheerleaders makes you popular?"

"Everyone knows that, duh! Just wait. Tomorrow I'll be the most popular guy ever. Thanks Kurt!" Sam thinks now is an excellent time for more spinning, so he hops up and makes his way over to the dance floor.

As he starts to spin some more, he hears, "And you, what is the matter with you? Some guy randomly kisses your boyfriend and you think it's hot? I swear, alcohol makes you think with your dick even more than usual."

"That's not fair! You can't say 'dick' if you don't want me to say 'make out' because you saying that makes me want to make out with you. Ow, Kurt! You're so mean! I - "

Sam stops spinning for a second to make sure Kurt didn't kill Blaine, but now they're just making out again so he figures it's all good.

* * *

><p>Monday morning, Sam can still feel the ghost of yesterday's hangover. He is seriously never drinking again. Worse than the pain though, is the embarrassment from all the stupid things he did, culminating in his decision to kiss Kurt. He considers himself fairly lucky that Puck had spiked Blaine's drinks, because he didn't think Kurt's boyfriend would be so cool about it sober. And yeah, he's tiny, but Sam had been so drunk that his size advantage wouldn't have been very useful.<p>

At least he knows Kurt can keep a secret, because seriously, if that got out, he'd only get out of the port-a-potties long enough to get thrown in the dumpster. Also, thinking about it, Kurt was surprisingly normal while drunk, though he probably hadn't had as much as he and Blaine had. Aside from the way he kept getting mad at Blaine and then trying to eat his face two seconds later, he'd pretty much been normal Kurt. And Sam hasn't really seen him and Blaine interact that much yet, so that might just be the way they always are.

He walks down the hallway towards his first-period class, and around the corner he sees Kurt and Blaine talking at Blaine's locker. He figures he should probably apologize again now that they're all sober, just to get the awkwardness over so they can move on.

"Uh, hi, guys."

Kurt smiles, and says "Hey, Sam," and Blaine says, "How's it going?"

"Um, better today than yesterday."

"Tell me about it. Remind me never to take anything from Puck again."

Kurt rolls his eyes. "I could have told you that. Actually, I did tell you that."

"He promised there wasn't any alcohol in it!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and looked at Sam. "Blaine suffers from See-The-Good-In-Everyone Syndrome. Really, it's a miracle you never had a stranger offer you candy from his windowless van. You'd climb right in."

"Would not."

"Would too."

Sam can see this going on for a while, and he wouldn't really be surprised if it ends in making out, which reminds him of why he's here. "Hey, guys."

Kurt and Blaine turn to face him, but not before Kurt gets a final pinch to Blaine's arm in. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about kissing you, Kurt. It was totally not cool and I have no idea what I was thinking."

Kurt waved it off. "Seriously, it's not a big deal. You were under the mistaken impression it would make you popular, and clearly Blaine didn't mind, so don't worry about it."

"You sure? You kind of seemed upset last night."

"I'd been drinking a little before I realized Blaine had gone and gotten himself so smashed. It was unexpected, yes, but you were clearly too intoxicated to be thinking straight."

Blaine seemed to be trying not to laugh, and doing quite poorly at it.

Kurt glared at him. "Pun not intended, _obviously_. From what I remember, which is probably a lot more than you two, I was kind of getting upset over everything."

"Yeah, you two were like constantly bickering. You know, whenever your mouths weren't otherwise occupied," Sam said, laughing at how they both instantly turned red.

"Whatever, you sang an ode to spinning, you have absolutely no room to talk," Kurt responded, smiling a little.

"Your boyfriend thought it was raining men!" Blaine turned even redder and Kurt burst out laughing.

All of a sudden, a bundle of red and white clothing hit Blaine in the face. He caught it quickly and looked up at the thrower, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Curly! Practice starts at 4:30 sharp. Don't be late. And be product-free or else I will hose you down personally. I will not have a mini-Schuester on my team," Sue Sylvester barked at Blaine, before turning on her heel, smacking the books out of some kid's hands, and starting to stride down the hallway.

"Wait, what? Ms. Sylvester, I don't understand!" he called, running towards her as Kurt and Sam watched in confusion.

Sue stopped and turned to face him, heaving a sigh as she said, "Look, Eyebrows, the only reason I'm letting you on the team is because your message was so pathetic. Really, even Schuester's drunk dial was less vomit-inducing. 'Please Coach Sylvester! Let me on the Cheerios! I wanna be a glee cheerleader too!'" she mimicked, making Blaine's voice much higher-pitched than it was in real life. "…And something about trout's lips which I couldn't make out between all your blubbering. I've won thirteen consecutive gold medals in making people cry, and I have never heard anyone bawl so disgustingly in my life. You were like a poor dying animal, so I figured I'd put you out of your misery. You get to join the Cheerios, I get to crush your tiny little Hobbit spirit. It's a win-win! Now, I am getting extremely bored with that confused expression on your face, so I am going to walk away now. You'll need to get the pants hemmed to fit your stubby little midget legs, by the way, and I expect it done by practice this afternoon."

She marched away, leaving a very scared, confused, and embarrassed Blaine behind. He turned, hoping maybe his boyfriend could help him out, but Kurt was bent in half, one hand on Sam's shoulder to keep himself upright, both of them laughing so hard tears were leaking out of the corners of their eyes.

"You could've just asked, man!" Sam called as Blaine turned around and walked away, the back of his neck the same color as his new uniform.


End file.
